Reinforced concrete.



H. J. QUEREAU. REINFORCED CONCRETE.

APPLICATION FILED 0018,1907.

91 8,366, Patented Apr. 13, 1909.

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I "STATES [PATENT OFFICE.

HAMILL J. QUEREAU, or BALDWINSVILLE, NEW YORK.

REINFORCED CONCRETE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 13, 1909.

Application filed October s,'19o7. sesame. 396,476.

arches of buildings, viaduct, or aqueduct arches and in fact any span which it is de sired to bridge with concrete.

In the present meth d of building concrete arches, it is customary to construct and install a wood form of the required radius which serves as a temporary support upon which the concrete is molded while in a plastic state the wood form being left in place until the concrete is .fullyset or seasoned after which the form is removed. This method obviously entails a considerable expense and frequent delay in the prosecution of the work particularly where a large number of arches are to be constructed and in order to save expense of lumber and other material used in the construction of the forms, it not infrequently happens that the contractor or builder will remove such forms before the concrete issufliciently set to be self-sustaining so that he may reuse the material in the construction of other forms which is more or less liable to cause the concrete structure to Warp or become distorted,

if not to actually collapse.

The rimary object of my invention is to avoid the extra expense of these wood forms and the accompanying liabilit' to accidents by preconstructing and instal ing a flexible arch of reinforced concrete capable of bein deflected or bent to the desired are an which is self-sustained at its ends upon the piers, I-beams or other end supports and ecomes a permanent part of the arch and superstructure of the same or different ma terial.

In other words, I have sought to produce a flexible reinforced concrete form as a new article of manufacture adapted to be made u and carried in stock for different lengths o are and channeled for different radii so that when bent to thearc, the meeting faces of the segments will abut against each other beneath thebond forming additional channels above the bond into which the superposed concrete bodymay be worked or impressed so as to permanently unite the superposed. body to the reinforced concrete form and thereby additionally strengthen the form against load strains.

Other ob'ects and uses relating to specific parts of t e reinforced concrete will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings -Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of one of my improved reinforced concrete forms or sections for forming an'arch. Fig. 2 1s a sectional new of a portlon of a floor of a buildmg showing my invention as ap lied to floor arches.

Fig. 3 is a sectional v1ew of a further modified manner of supporting the arch, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the flexible concrete strips and mold in which it is formed, the latter being shown in section.

The reinforced concrete arched sections forming the subject matter of this invention are made in easily portable strips at some locality where the manufacture ma be carried on extensively and to which t e materials entering into the construction may be economically transported or supplied said concrete strips with their reinforcements embedded therein being referably made in suitable molds to the desired dimensions for the arches in which they are to be installed, the length of such sections or strips de ending1 upon the span or radius of the arc he mold as 1 may be made of wood or any other suitable material and usually consists of a rectangular box open at the top and having its bottom provided with a series of transverse upwardly ta ering ribs extending from side to side an of uniform height usually somewhat less than the depth of the box, said ribs being spaced equi-distant apart.

A bed of concrete is placed within the mold upon the bottom in a plastic condition to about the height of the ribs 2 and uponthe to face of this concrete is laced a reinforcin wire whic is flexible and is'usually nearly coextensive with the area of the concrete bed upon which it rests. After the woven wire bond is placed in position in the manner just described and while the underlying bed.

0nd 3- preferably 0 woven knit to 'and become incorporated with the upper be underlyin concrete bed 4. While this of concrete is still plastic it is formed by a suitable tool with a series of transverse grooves 6- extending from side to side in vertical alinement with the corres onding ribs 2 but of less depth than t e superposed concrete bed -5 so as to leave a solid body of concrete between the grooves and ribs, whereupon the completed concretestrip or section with the bond therein is allowe to set and thoroughly season. After the concrete is thoroughly dry or set it is removed from the-mold by simply inverting the latter leaving the concrete section with a series of V-shape grooves 7 formed by the ribs 2 and, therefore, ex-

tending from side to side of the concrete strip.

By leaving a solid body of concrete between the bases of the grooves 6- and 7, the concrete stri s are self-sustaining and may be transporte from dplace to place in straight form and when rea y to install to form the arch they may be readily flexed at the junction of the grooves --6 and 7- thereby breaking the concrete between the bases of the rooves 6 andscreen wire bond 3 w ichlatter ties the segments to gether in one continuous but flexible strip. The angle of the grooves -7 depends somewhat upon the radius of the arch and is generally made so that when the arch is sprung to the proper arc, the meeting faces of the segments will abut one against the other. The object in forming the additional transverse grooves 6 is to facilitate bending or reaking of the concrete in line with the apexes of the grooves 7 and by breaking the concrete at the basesof the grooves 6 it affords a rough surface to WlllCll the superposed concrete structure in the arch will more readily and firmly adhere.

When the strips are flexed or bent in the form of an are as shown in Fig. -,-2, then per bed will be opened at intervals at t e grooves 6- and breaks at the bases of the grooves so that when the superposed plastic concrete is ap lied thereto, it will be thoroughly worke into these transverse grooves or openin s and against the roughened broken surfaces forming practically a unitary concrete structure, the fillin in the groove 6 serving when set to a ditionally reinforce the arch.

Although I have shown this reinforced concrete strip as formed in a mold having ribs to form the groove 7, it is obvious that the reinforcing bond 3. may be otherwise embedded in the concrete thanin the manner described and that the grooves -7 may be formed by a suitable tool or im lement with-. "out departing from the spirit 0 my invention and therefore, I do not limit myself to the precise method of making these reinforced concrete strips hereinbefore described.

WhatI claim is:

1. In combination with the abutments of an arch, a reinforced concrete arch section having its ends resting on said abutments and. provided with a reinforcing bond embedded therein between its inner and outer faces, said arch section being composed of edges beveled inwardly and outwardly from said bond, the adjacent faces abutting against each other below the bond and concrete filling in the spaces between said adjacent faces at the outer side of said bond.

2. A reinforced concrete arch section having a reinforcing bond embedded therein between its inner and outer faces, said arch section being formed with longitudinal V-shaped grooves at opposite sides of the bond and having their apexes located at said bond, the grooves at the outer side being located directly above and parallel with those at the inner side of the bond and extending substantially to said'bond. r p

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of Se tember 1907.

' H I HAMIL J. QUEREAU.

Witnesses:

H. E. CHAsn,

M. M. No r'r.

longitudinal sections having their adjacent 

